Process of treating textile fabric



1957 G. H. woop, JR

PROCESS OF TREATING TEXTILE FABRIC Filed Dec. 30, 1953 w. a. m A 6 my 6G ATTORNEYS,

km M uOJo United States Patent PROCESS OF TREATING TEXTILE. FABRICGeorge H. Wood, Jr., East Greenwich, R. 1., assignor to The ApponaugCompany, a corporation of Delaware Application December 30, 1953, SerialNo. 401,150

3 Claims. (Cl. 117-11) This invention relates to the finishing oftextile fabrics and has to do particularly with fabrics which areembossed or pleated.

In the finishing of such fabrics as have the surfaces defiected such astheir surfaces sharply folded or their surfaces embossed, it is usual toapply some resin to the fabric and then apply heat to the fabric, theheat being essential for proper finishing of the fabric. When hot rollsare used, if colors are at once applied to the fabric, the colors tendto stick and build up on the rolls and make stopping and cleaning of therolls necessary. Also faults occur in the fabric by reason of thissticking and quick drying. Attempts have been made to use a differentink or color to withstand the heat of the calender bowl, but the use ofspecial carriers and special colors is not desirable.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a resin which may beplaced in the fabric, which will permit folding, embossing, and otherpositioning of the surface of the fabric as desired without the use ofheat so that regular pigment colors and ordinary binders for pigmentcolors in a water medium may be used.

Another object of the invention is to provide a resin .composition whichwill avoid mechanical difficulties in the .operation of the mechanismfor applying the resin and subsequent operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a resin which will permitcoloring of embossed fabrics,.both inlay and tipping onthe same machineor in the same operation with the embossing;

Other objects will appear as a more detailed descrip- :tion of theinvention is hereinafter recited.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showingthe travel of :a web of fabric through a padder for the application ofresin which is the subject of this application;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic viewshowing the travel of the'fabric afterthe padding step through the embossing and coloring steps.

In Figure 1 I have illustrated the supply of a web .of

fabric at with a padder at 11 through which the fabric 12 passes, beingguided by guide rolls 13 and 14 and passed through squeeze rolls 15 and16. The composition which is the subject of this invention is applied inthis padder maintaining a bath thereof such that the fabric 12is=immersedatherein as it passes through the padder. The squeeze rollsWill squeeze from the fabric sufficient of the applied liquid" resin sothat about 75 percent of the weight of the fabric 'is added to thefabric by reason of the resin picked up therein, The fab'ricis thenguided over rolls' 17 and 18 with a part of the moisture taken out bythe zig-zagpassage in dem'oisturer I9 thence over rolls 20, 21, 22', and23 to a tenter frame 24 where it is further dried so that the gain inweight of the dry fabric will be about 10 percent of moisture. Thefabric then passes over guide roll 25 and i's 'batch'edasat 26.

The subsequent operation on the batch 26 is to draw this fabric overguide roll 27, thence over the paper bowl ice 28 and between it and thesteel embossing cylinder 29 which has been previously run into the paperbowl sufficiently to impress its raised design therein, thence overguiding roll 30 and to the curing unit designated generaly The rolls 28and 29 are run cold or at room temperature and color may be applied tothe fabric at the same time that surface deflecting or embossing takesplace either to the low or indented surfaces of the embossed fabric bythe mechanism shown generally at 32, or color may be applied at anotherlocation on the paper bowl to the raised or tipped portions of thefabric by the mechanism shown generally at 33, or both of these colorapplications may occur in the same operation.

The mechanism 32 comprises a shallow trough 35 of color 34 which may bethe regular pigment colors in an ordinary pigment binder in a Watermedium. The color material is picked up by metal roll 36 and thencetransferred to rubber roll 37, thence to rubber roll 38, and thence tothe raised portions of the engraved steel cylinder 29 so that asembossing of the fabric takes place, the fabric is at the same timeimprinted with the color on the low portions of the fabric while theyare in engagement with the low impressed portions of the paper bowl 28.

In the mechanism shown at 33, there is a doctor blade 40 which is usedas a color box to maintain color 41 of the same type as at 34 which isapplied to the engraved metal roll 35. This roll transfers the color torubber roll 36, thence to another rubber roll 37, and thence to a rubbertipping roll 38 which applies it to the tips or raised portion of thefabric while in engagement with the paper bowl.

In order that I may accomplish the cold embossing with the rolls 28 and29 and at the same time apply the color as I have indicated, I haveprovided a composition which consists of a thermoplastic material andalso a thermosetting material along with a catalyst. A softener may alsobe used. The proportions of the materials are as follows:

1 to 10% theromplastic material 3 to 15% thermosetting type resin 1 to3% catalyst 0 to 4% softener Balance water to The thermoplasticmaterialmay consist of any of the following:

Polyvinyl alcohol (Elvanol72-60) Hydroxyethylcellulose (Cellogum)Carboxymethylcellulose (Uscoplast 900) Mixtures of vinyl acetateco-polymer complex and cationic vinyl acetate co-polymer complex.

The thermosetting type resins used are as follows:

1. High polymer urea formaldehyde resin syrup (Uscoset' 2. A modifiedurea formaldehyde resin made from urea formaldehyde and Z-meth'yl 2-4p'entanediol (Uscoset 3. A low polymer urea formaldehyde resin (Useoset101) A suitable catalyst is non-ammonium stable organic amine salt(Catalyst AC4 Monsanto Chemical Co.)'. Another catalyst which might beused is diammonium phosphate.

A softener which might be used is highly sulphonated Castor oil or mixedcationic and anionic long chain derivative (Calco softener H-AmericanCyanamid Co), or any water miscible resinv plasticizer.

.5) Examples (The parts are by weight) 1. 12 /2 parts vinyl acetateco-polymer complex 45-50% concentration (AquexBNW) 12 /2 parts cationicvinyl acetate co-polymer complex 4550% concentration (Aquex BNWC) 60parts high polymer urea formaldehyde resin syrup 70% strength (Uscoset700L) 1 10 parts non-ammonium stable organic amine salt (Catalyst AC4)305 parts water 2. 5 parts of polyvinyl alcohol (Elvanol) made into apaste with 45 parts of Water 20 parts of high polymer urea formaldehyderesin syrup (Uscoset 700L) "4 parts of urea p parts ofnon-ammonium'stable organic amine salt' (Catalyst AC4) 5 parts of2-methyl-2,4 pentanediol 311 parts water 2-methyl-2,4 pentanediol isused in this case as a plasticizer or softener. 3. 50 parts ofcarboxymethylcellulose 45% concentration (Uscoplast 900) 150 parts lowpolymer urea formaldehyde resin 25% strength (Uscoset 101) 10 parts ofdiammonium phosphate 190 parts Water In this example the diammoniumphosphate is the catalyst but any other catalyst could be substituted.4. 25 parts of vinyl acetate co-polymer complex (Aquex BNW) 25 parts ofcationic vinyl acetate co-polymer complex (Aquex BNWC) 4 parts urea 100parts low polymer urea formaldehyde resin (Uscoset 101) 20 parts highpolymer urea formaldehyde resin syrup (Uscoset 700L) 10 parts catalyst216 parts Water 5. 60 parts carboxymethylcellulose (Uscoplast 900) 20parts high polymer urea formaldehyde resin syrup (Uscoset 700L) i V 100parts modified urea formaldehyde resin made from urea, formaldehyde and2-methyl 2-4-pentanediol (Uscoset Resin 150) 10 parts diammoniumphosphate. 210 parts water 6. 4 parts polyvinyl alcohol (Elvanol) mixedwith 36 parts water 7 100 parts modified urea formaldehyde resin madefrom urea, formaldehyde and Z-methyl 2-4-pentanediol (Uscoset 150) 13parts high polymer urea formaldehyde resin syrup (Uscoset 700L) 7 partsnon-ammonium stable organic amine salt (Catalyst AC4) 240 parts water 7.5 quarts vinyl acetate co-polymer complex (BNW) 5 quarts cationic vinylacetate co-polymer complex (BNWC) 2 gallons high polymer ureaformaldehyde resin syrup (Uscoset 700L) 2 pounds dicyandiamide (Dicy) 5gallons low polymer urea formaldehyde resin (Uscoset 101) 2 quarts mixedcationic and anionic long chain derivative (Calco softener H) 2 quartsnon-ammonium stable organic amine salt (Catalyst AC4) To 30 gallonstotal volume with water 8. 2 /2 gallons carboxymethylcellulose(Uscoplast 900) 7 /2 gallons low polymer urea formaldehyde resin(Uscoset 101) 2 quarts 2-rnethyl 2-4-pentanediol 2 quarts mixed cationicand anionic long chain derivative (Calco softener H) 2 poundsdicyandiarnide (Dicy) 2 quarts non-ammonium stable organic amine salt(Catalyst AC4) To 30 gallons total volume with water By the use of thecompositions hereinabove mentioned, the fabric may be folded and rolledto form pleats or may be embossed as illustrated in the diagrammaticdrawing herein described for the obtaining of embossing patterns orschreinered effects, and'the set of the fabric in the embossed conditionis found to obtain a highly satisfactory loft even after washing manytimes. From the tests which I have applied, I have found that of thethermo setting type resins listed the high polymer urea formaldehyderesin was the best for this high loft, a mixture of this resin with theZ-methyl 2-4-pentanediol was next to the best, the modified ureaformaldehyde resin using urea, formaldehyde and Z-methyl 2-4-pentanediolwas third, and the low polymer urea formaldehyde resin was fourth. Ofthe thermoplastic materials, the polyvinyl alcohol was the best, thecarboxymethylcellulose was second, and the hydroxy-ethylcellulose andthe mixtures of vinyl acetate co-polymer complex and cationic vinylacetate copolymer complex were about equal for the third place.

Some of these products are found to give a rather harsh hand, and somesoftening material may need to be used. The vinyl acetate co-polymercomplex and cationic vinyl acetate co-polymer complex seem'to give thebetter hand in this respect. Consequently, in view of the desiredfunctions to be produced, the compositions which afford the moredesirable characteristics would be those chosen although satisfactoryresults may be obtained by the other materials mentioned.

I claim:

1. In the process of treating a textile material, the steps of immersingthe material in a bath of water, a catalyst, and a mixture ofthermosetting resins and thermoplastic material in which thethermosetting resin is at least one resin selected from the groupconsisting of high polymer urea-formaldehyde, a resin made ofurea-formaldehyde and 2-methyl, 2-4 pentanediol, and low polymer ureaformaldehyde, in a range by weight of from 3 percent to 15 percent, andin which the thermoplastic material is at least one material selectedfrom the group consisting of carboxymethylcellulose,hydroxyethylcellulose, and polyvinyl alcohol, in a range by weight offrom 1 percent to 10 percent, drying to about 10 percent moisture andthen passing the fabric so treated through surface deflecting calendarrolls at room temperature.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the thermosetting resins are a mixtureof resins selected from the recited thermosetting resin group.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the thermoplastic material is amixture of thermoplastic materials from the recited thermoplasticmaterial group.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS page13.

1. IN THE PROCESS OF TREATING A TEXTILE MATERIAL, THE STEPS OF IMMERSINGTHE MATERIAL IN A BATH OF WATER, A CATALYST, AND A MIXTURE OFTHERMOSETTING RESINS AND THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL IN WHICH THETHERMOSETTING RESIN IS AT LEAST ONE RESIN SELECTED FROM THE GROUPCONSISTING OF HIGH POLYMER UREA-FORMALDEHYDE, A RESIN MADE OFUREA-FORMALDEHYDE AND 2-METHYL, 2-4 PENTANEDIOL, AND LOW POLYMER UREAFORMALDEHYDE, IN A RANGE BY WEIGHT OF FROM 3 PERCENT TO 15 PERCENT, ANDIN WHICH THE THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL IS AT LEAST ONE MATERIAL SELECTEDFROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CARBOXYMETHYLCELLULOSE,HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE, AND POLYVINYL ALCOHOL, IN A RANGE BY WEIGHT OFFROM 1 PERCENT TO 10 PERCENT, DRYING TO ABOUT 10 PERCENT MOISTURE ANDTHEN PASSING THE FABRIC SO TREATED THROUGH SURFACE DEFLECTING CALENDARROLLS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.